C&e &eteMon of 




% Herbert (gotoen 



Class. 

Boole 

CopyrightlSl _ 

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THE REVELATION OF "THE 
THINGS THAT ARE" 



The Revelation of 
'The Things that Are' 

An Exposition of 
Revelation IV and V 



By the 

REV. HERBERT H. GOWEN 

Rector of Trinity Parish, Seattle 

Author of " Temper antia" " The Kingdom of 
Man;' « The Day of His Coming," &c. 



NEW YORK 
THOMAS WHITTAKER, INC. 

PUBLISHERS 



LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
Two Copies Received 

OCT 22 1908 

Copyright £ntry 
COPY B. 



Copyright, 1908 
By THOMAS WHITTAKER, Inc. 



n 

CONTENTS 

Introduction y 

Analytical Transcription of Revelation 
4 and 5 11 

I. The Ideal Heaven . . . . .19 

II. The True God 27 

III. The Universal Church . . . -36 

IV. The Ideal Nature 43 

V. The Seven-Sealed Book . . . .52 

VI. The Slaughtered Lamb . . . .60 
VII. The Triumph of the Lamb . . .68 



5 



INTRODUCTION 



THIS little book is intended to provide a sim- 
ple exposition of the third division of St. 
John's Apocalypse (chaps. 4 and 5), in which 
the Apostolic Seer anticipates the triumph of the New 
Dispensation which he sees accomplished through the 
Judgments of Part IV (chaps. 4- 18). 

The anticipation is described as realized in Part V 
(chaps. 19, 20). 

It may be useful to preface the exposition of this 
single division by the briefest possible syllabus of the 
general movement of the Apocalypse, and by an 
analysis, a little more in detail, of the portion to be 
specially considered. 

The Apocalypse is a poem in which the artificial 
arrangement of its parts takes the place of rhyme or 
meter. The artificiality is chiefly noticeable in its 
intricate numerical system, and the most prominent 
feature in this respect is the use of the number Seven, 
generally subdivided into Three, the number of Spirit, 
and Four, the number of the World. 

Thus the greater divisions of the Book are seven in 
number, and it will be noticed that, while the central 
division contains the larger part of the action of the 
poem, the parts on either side are arranged in exact 
correspondence, 1 corresponding with 7, 2 with 6, and 
3 with 5. 
These divisions are as follows : — 
I. Prologue (chap. 1). 

7 



"ffntroouctlon 



II. The Church militant— in its imperfect stage 
Spirit and World mingled together (chaps! 
2, 3). 

III. The Church's triumph anticipated Ychaps 4 c ) 

IV. The Great Day of the Lord. 

wfflnS * ) (God on the Throne 

W Id Beast t versus J The Slain Lamb. 
False Prophet J ( The Sevenfold Spirit. 

The one side realizing in Man the Harlot 
City, and loosing Hell upon Earth. 

The other side realizing in Man the Bride 
City and bringing down the New Jerusa- 
lem from Heaven. 

This latter work is accomplished by means 
of a threefold Judgment, 

1. The Seven Seals, 

2. The Seven Trumpets, 

3. The Seven Bowls ; 

and the result of this Judgment is the re- 
moval of the transitory dispensation of 
Judaism, and the establishment in the 
Earth of the New Jerusalem— the Chris- 
tian Church (chaps. 6-18). 
V. The Church's triumph realized, fulfilling on 
Earth what St. John sees in Heaven in 
Part III. 

VI. The Church perfected, purified from all the 
worldliness rebuked in Part II. 
VII. The Epilogue, corresponding to Part I. 

The analysis of Part III, the portion to be consid- 
ered in the ensuing pages, reveals the following 
scheme : — & 



UntroOuctlon 



9 



A. The Entrance of the Seer into the World of 

Spirit. 

I. The Door opened. 
II. The Inviting Voice. 

III. The Translation (chap. 4:1, 2a). 

B. The perfect Vision {sevenfold} of the World of 

Spirit. 

I. The Sovereign Power of God. 

II. The Church of all Time. 

III. The Omnipresent Spirit. 

IV. The World in the Sight of God. 
V. The Universal Creation. 

VI. The Seven-sealed Mystery of God. 
VII. The Slain Lamb as the Opener of the Seals 
of Mystery (chaps. 4 : 2b-5 : 6). 

C. The Victory of the Cross anticipated. 
I. The Great Undertaking. 

II. The New Song of Creation to Creation's 
Priest. 

III. The Worship of the Lamb (chap. 5 : 7- 14). 

With this scheme the following pages will deal, not 
commenting on details so much as attempting a broad 
survey of the revelation contained in two of the most 
wonderful chapters in Scripture. The writer believes 
that no more appropriate title could be found than that 
which he has chosen — The Revelation of " The 
Things that Are." 

An analytical transcription follows, which, we be- 
lieve, will enable the reader to follow the Apostle's 
meaning from point to point. 



Analytical Transcription of Revelation 4 
and 5. 



The Revelation of " The Things that Are." 



A. The Invitation to the Seer. 

After these things I saw and, behold, a Door 

opened in Heaven, 
And the first Voice which I heard, as of a 
Trumpet speaking with me — one saying, 
Come up hither, 

and I will show thee what must 
come to pass hereafter. 
Straightway, I was there in spirit. 

B. The Sevenfold Vision of the World of Spirit. 

1. The Sovereign God. 

And, behold, a Throne set in Heaven, and 

upon the Throne One sitting, 
And He that sat was to look upon like a 

Jasper and a Sardius, 
And there was a Rainbow round about 

the Throne like an Emerald to look 

upon. 

2. The Ideal Church. 

And round about the Throne Twenty- 
four Thrones, 



m 



12 analytical transcription of -Kevelation 4 ano 5 



And upon the Thrones Twenty-four El- 
ders sitting, 

Arrayed in White Garments, and on their 
heads Golden Crowns. 

3. TJie Universal Spirit. 

And out of the Throne proceeded , 

Lightnings, 

and Voices, 

and Thunders, 
And Seven Lamps of Fire burning before 

the Throne, 
Which are the Seven Spirits of God. 

4. The World in the presence of God. 

And, before the Throne, 
As it were a Glassy Sea, 
Like unto Crystal. 

5. The Universal Nature. 

I. And in the midst of the Throne, 
And round about the Throne, 
Four Living-ones full of Eyes be- 
fore and behind. 
II. And the first Living-one was like 
a Lion, 

And the second Living-one was 

like a Bullock, 
And the third Living-one had a 

face as of a Man, 
And the fourth Living-one was like 

a flying Eagle. 
III. And the Four Living-ones, having 

each of them six Wings, 
Are full of Eyes round about and 

within, 



analytical Granscdption of IRevelatfon 4 anD 5 13 



And they have no rest day and 
night, 
IV. Saying, 

Holy, Holy, Holy, 
The Lord God, the Almighty, 
Which was, which is, and which 
is to come. 
V. And when the Living-ones shall 
give 

Glory, 

and Honour, 
and Thanks 
To Him that sitteth on the Throne, 
To Him that liveth forever and ever, 
VI. The Twenty-four Elders shall fall 
down and worship Him that sit- 
teth on the Throne, 
And shall worship Him that liveth 

forever and ever, 
And shall cast their Crowns before 
the Throne, 
VII. Saying, 

Worthy art Thou, our Lord and 
our God, to receive 
the Glory, 
and the Honor, 
and the Power, 
For Thou didst create all things, 
And because of Thy will they 
were and were created. 
6. The Seven-sealed Mystery. 

And I saw, in the Right Hand of Him 
that sat on the Throne, 



14 analytical tttangctfptlon of IRevelatton 4 anfc 5 



A Book written within and on the back, 
Close sealed with Seven Seals. 



Episode, illustrating the insolubility of the mystery 
• by man, and preparing for its solution by the 
Lamb. 

[a. The Challenge. 

And I saw a strong Angel pro- 
claiming with a great Voice, 
Who is worthy to open the 
Book, 

And to loose the Seals 
thereof ? 
b. Human Despair. 

And no one was able in the 
Heaven, 

or on the Earth, 
or Under the Earth, 
to open the Book, 
neither to look thereon. 
And I wept much, because no 
one was found worthy 
to open the Book, 
or to look thereon, 
c. The Solver at hand. 

And one of the Elders said unto 

me, 
Weep not, 

Behold, the Lion that is of the 
Tribe of Juda, 

the Root of David, 



analytical transcription of IRevelation 4 ano 5 15 



Hath overcome to open the 
Book, and the Seven Seals 
thereof.] 



7. The Slain Lamb the Solver of Mystery. 
And I saw 

in the midst of the Throne, 
and of the Four Living-ones, 
and in the midst of the Elders, 
A Lamb standing, 

as though it had been slain, 
having Seven Horns, 
and Seven Eyes (which are the 
Seven Spirits of God sent forth 
into all the Earth). 
C. The Victory of the Lamb anticipated. 

1. The Task accepted. 

And He came and He taketh it out of the 
Hand of Him that sat upon the Throne. 

2. The New Song of Creation to Creation s Priest. 

I. From Nature and Man. 

And when He had taken the Book 
the four Living-ones and the 

Twenty-four Elders 
fell down before the Lamb, 
Having each one an Harp, 

and Golden Bowls full of Incense 
(which are the prayers of the 
saints), 

And they sang a New Song, say- 
ing— 
(The Song). 

Worthy art Thou to take the Book, 



16 analytical Granscrfptlon of 1Rex>elatton 4 ano 5 



And to open the Seals thereof, 
For Thou wast Slain, 

And didst purchase unto God 
with Thy Blood 
men of every Tribe, 
and Tongue, 
and People, 
and Nation ; 
And madest them unto our God 
a Kingdom and Priests, 
and they shall reign upon 
the Earth. 
II. From the Angels. 
And I saw, 

And I heard a Voice of many 
Angels 
round about the Throne, 
and the Living-ones, 
and the Elders ; 
And the number of them was Ten- 
thousand-times-ten-thousand 
and thousands of thousands ; 
Saying with a great Voice — 
(The Song). 

Worthy is the Lamb that hath 
been slain 

To receive the Power, 
and Riches, 
and Wisdom, 
and Might, 
and Honor, 
and Glory, 
and Blessing. 



Bnalgttcal transcription of IRevetation 4 ano 5 17 

III. From the Universe. 

And every created thing which is 
in the Heaven, 

and on the Earth, 
and Under the Earth, 
and on the Sea, 
And all things that are in them, 
Heard I saying — 
{The Song). 

Unto Him that sitteth on the 

Throne, 
And unto the Lamb 
Be, forever and ever, the Blessing 
and the Honor, 
and the Glory, 
and the Dominion. 
3. The Worship of the Lamb. 

And the Four Living-ones said, 
Amen; 

And the Elders fell down and worshiped. 



I 



THE IDEAL HEAVEN 

" After these things I saw, and behold, a door opened in 
heaven." — Rev. 4:1. 

WHEN King Arthur came to his kingdom, 
and won a realm from the heathen, he 
built a fair city called Camelot. Here the 
King and his Round Table Knights formed an ideal 
society, sworn to live pure and knightly lives and to 
fight unceasingly against the evil within and around 
them. 

And the poet tells us how Gareth, the last tall son of 
Lot and Bellicent, heard of the fame of this city, and 
at last obtained leave from his mother to journey 
thither, that he might enlist for service under Arthur 
if only to serve as scullion or kitchen-knave. Taking 
two servants with him disguised as tillers of the field, 
he set out. Across the plain, 

" Far off they saw the silvery misty morn 
Rolling her smoke about the royal mount, 
That rose between the forest and the field, 
At times the summit of the high city flash'd ; 
At times the spires and turrets half-way down 
Prick' d through the mist ; at times the great gate shone 
Only, that open'd on the field below. 
Anon, the whole fair city disappear'd." 

19 



20 



ftbe TRevelation of " ftbe Cbingg tbat mre " 



Then were they greatly amazed. One said, « Go no 
further; it is a city of enchanters." The other « Lord, 
there is no such city anywhere, but all a vision." 

But Gareth pushed them all unwilling to the gate 
and though he saw marvels enough to make his com- 
panions still to doubt whether there was any city at 
all, yet he found within such reality as he had never 
dreamed, a city of royal life and loyal service, a city 
where 

"All about a healthful people stept 
As in the presence of a gracious king." 
Does not this story well describe the uncertainty 
which sometimes takes hold on the heart of man as to 
the existence of the City of God, the world of eternal 
realities, where the Lord God reigneth, and His serv- 
ants serve Him and see His face ? 

Is there any such world? What is it? How can 
we thither attain ? Is anything real ? It is the ques- 
tion of questions. Does life rest upon a real basis, or 
do we invent the phrases, « I ought," « I ought not," 
" It is right," « It is wrong " ? 

Many different answers have in time past been given 
to this question. 

The old Hindu philosophers did not hesitate to give 
the answer: This life of ours is all illusion, a phantas- 
magoria of hallucination. What we deem the sternest 
fact is no more real than the mirage of the desert or 
the will-o'-the-wisp. 

What we see and do are all phenomena for which 
the Soul of the Universe is responsible. The world is 
nothing, but God is all 

Less wise than this is the answer given by the 
modern school of Positivists, Materialists, and Secular- 



21 



ists, who say that God is nothing, the soul is nothing, 
but the world is all. True religion, they say, consists 
in the recognition of facts ; but when we inquire for 
their facts we find they are " observed phenomena " ; 
and phenomena, as the Hindu perceived, are not facts. 
What is behind the phenomena observed by us in our 
daily life ? The human mind. And what is beneath 
the universal Phenomena ? The universal Mind. The 
Thinker and the Worker are behind the Thought and 
the Work. That is, call it by whatever name you will, 
the ultimate fact is God. 

And resting ourselves upon this ultimate fact, we 
shall find other facts such as Hindu philosophy dis- 
believed. The Creator gives of His own reality to the 
work of His hands. He who believes life to be illusion 
will make it illusive ; he who believes life to be secular 
will make it secular ; but he who acknowledges that 
every part of human life proceeds from the Eternal 
Mind to fulfil an eternal purpose, that it lays hold upon 
the world of realities, will govern his life by the laws 
of the real world and will choose for his portion not 
the shadow but the substance of life. 

But what, we ask, is this world of realities ? Can 
we enter therein and can we live therein ? 

It is not, to begin with, the world of sense. 

It may be quite beyond the reach of our senses, as 
so many worlds are — as the world of Sirius, of Arcturus, 
of the Polestar above us, as the world of the drop of 
water below us. Huxley has told us how in the leaf 
of a tiny plant there are such currents of life passing to 
and fro, through every tiny hair, through every infin- 
itesimal channel, that could we hear them all we should 
be stunned as by the roar of a great city. 



22 Cbe "Revelation of "Gbe Sbine* tbat are" 



F urther, it may seem quite contrary to the evidence 
of our senses, as so many things are till our reason and 
experience come to correct the testimony of our eyes 
and ears. The real power of the spiritual world is not 
all in evidence. We should quite misapprehend his- 
tory if left to the evidence of our senses. At first sight 
power seems the prerogative of brute force. Only 
gradually we learn that the empire of man is made by 
its Moltkes as well as by its Bismarcks, and there are 
lessons still beyond this. So the world of realities, so 
far from always staring men in the face, is often a 
world unseen by our bodily eyes, unapprehended by 
our physical senses. 

And yet it is a world believed in passionately and 
fervently wherever the heart of man has risen to see 
that wealth, or pleasure, or power, as men conceive 
them, are but the shadows of the things which really 
are. 

Men are taught by the inner voice to be dissatisfied 
with the world of phenomena, and they strive with the 
eyes of the spirit to get glimpses of the world beyond, 
the world of realities, which we call Heaven. 

The Buddhist, perceiving that pain comes from un- 
satisfied desire, dreamed of it as Nirvana, the quench- 
ing of all desire in the bosom of God, the extinction of 
the spirit-thirst, and with it of consciousness itself. 
This is his highest bliss, his heaven of heavens. 

The Mohammedan, learning in this life the dregs at 
the bottom of pleasure's cup, dreamed of heaven as a 
land where pleasure should be perennial, and unat- 
tended with satiety, exhaustion, or fatigue. 

The Scandinavian looked forward to it as the drink- 
ing of mead from the skulls of his vanquished enemies, 



Sbe flfceal tbeaven 



38 



the undisturbed and never-ending banquet with Odin 
in the halls of Valhalla. 

The aboriginal Australian looks forward to it as the 
time when he shall become a white man. 

" The door is opened in Heaven." 

Let us content ourselves for the present, with the 
inquiry, " What is Heaven to the Christian ? " 

St. John answers the question very clearly for the 
benefit of the Churches of Asia. They are all vexed 
and persecuted and tired, weak, perplexed and terri- 
fied. What seem to them appalling realities are press- 
ing in upon them. The Dragon, the Wild Beast, the 
False Prophet seem real enough. Hell is let loose upon 
them, and their comfort is only vague and visionary. 

Then the eagle-eyed Apostle tears away the veil, as 
Elisha had done for his trembling servant, and shows 
them things as they are, another world, hitherto un- 
known to them, a world where things are real, a 
world not of the future but of the present, where God 
sits enthroned. This is Heaven. This is the picture 
we are going to study, the world where God and good 
principles reign. 

I. It is the world of being y just as earth is the world 
of becoming. Here we see the things which are eternal, 
the things which cannot be shaken. Here nothing is 
transitory, nothing is imperfect. Everything is ideal, 
absolute, consummate. 

II. It is not a creation of the future. It exists. It 
is the eternal present. We enter therein as often as 
we take off our hearts and our eyes from the passing 
things of earth and time. So Christ speaks of Him- 
self as " the Son of Man who is in Heaven," even 
though He was then living upon earth. 



24 Cbe -Revelation of "Gbe Gbings tbat Bre" 



III. How did St. John know it ? Through fellow- 
ship with Christ. His hopes had not deceived him. 
The older he grew the more confident he became that 
He whom his eyes had seen and his hands handled 
was in very truth the Word of Life. So far from be- 
coming with age pessimistic and querulous, he became 
more and more certain that his fellowship was forever 
with Christ, and through Christ with God. This " ac- 
knowledgment of God in Christ " was stronger than 
temptation, stronger than sin, and therefore he pleaded 
with all men to know through Christ " the true God 
and the life which is eternal." - He that hath Christ," 
he would say, " hath the life." 

IV. And by what means did St. John strive to 
realize this fellowship with Christ ? 

Was it not through his Church life ? He made all 
his worship here below a chariot of flame to lift him 
into the eternal presence of God. We see this from 
the fact that his ideal Heaven is a glorified reproduc- 
tion of the Temple and the Temple worship. The 
mercy-seat suggests to him the Throne of God ; the 
brazen laver, the sea of crystal; the seven-branched 
candlestick, the seven Spirits of God ; the cherubim 
above the mercy-seat, the Living-ones ; the minister- 
ing priesthood, the four-and-twenty elders; and the 
victim upon the altar, the Lamb of God. 

All these things to many Jewish worshipers were 
formal and meaningless pieces of ritual and ceremonial 
which caught the eye but produced no emotion in the 
soul. To St. John they became angels ministering 
between earth and Heaven and bearing upwards his 
spirit to the worship of Heaven. 

And now to come, for the present, to a practical 



Gbe focal t>eaven 



25 



conclusion. If this door be open to Heaven, from all 
the perplexities and tribulations of earth, for us as well 
as for the Christians of Asia Minor, what shall we do ? 

I. Let us not speculate about it, but live in it. 
We can, just as easily as St. John. It is a higher 
privilege even than that of leaning upon Christ's bosom 
at supper, in the days of His earthly ministry. It is 
ours to be caught up by the Spirit into the world of 
being, and to see things as they are. 

II. Let us enter it through fellowship with Christ. 
It is Christ who teaches us what are the real things. 
He shows us the real power in the Cross of Calvary, 
the real wisdom in the bearing it humbly after Him, 
and the real goodness in becoming like unto Him. 

III. Let our Church life here below help us to 
realize this. Let us not rest in hearing the Word, but 
become doers of it. Let us not rest in prayer, but 
reach forward for the answer. Let us not rest in 
sacraments, but partake of the grace beyond the visi- 
ble sign. 

As Jacob at Bethel, with the open country for his 
sanctuary and the stones for his altar, scaled Heaven 
by his worship and opened a door for himself into the 
presence of Jehovah ; and as Isaiah amid the gorgeous 
ritual of the Temple courts pierced the veil with his 
devotion and entered into the glories of the celestial 
Holy of Holies ; and as St. John in Patmos lifted up 
his spirit from the dark problems of earth to seek ref- 
uge in the tabernacle of the Highest, — so may we 
find in worship and in life the ever-open door, and 
entering therein join with angels and archangels and 
the whole company of Heaven in the Trisagion of 
praise. 



Cbe TRevelation of " Cbe things tbat are 99 



character is that will, good or bad ? And if good, will 
He take notice of us His Creatures ? 

Here are the three most important questions of life, 
the three questions which lie at the base of all faith in 
a God. 

* I. Is God perfectly powerful? 
II. Is God perfectly good? 

III. Does God trouble Himself about us f 

Let us see what St. John has to say on these points 
—that is, as to the Power, the Character, and the 
Providence of God. 

First let us get St. John's ideal picture of Heaven 
well before our minds. It possesses seven features, 
the sevenfoldness testifying to its perfection. 

I. There is a Throne, with One sitting thereon, a 
feature suggested, as we have seen, by the Mercy- 
seat. 

II. There are seven Lamps of fire burning before 
the Throne, suggested by the Seven-branched candle- 
stick. 

III. The Sea of glass, forming the floor of Heaven, 
suggested by the brazen sea which took the place of 
the laver. 

IV. The twenty-four Elders representing the per- 
fect ministry of the Church, suggested by the twenty- 
four courses of the Jewish priesthood. 

V. The four Living-ones, representing universal 
Nature, suggested by the winged cherubim or griffins. 

VI. The sealed Roll of the Divine decrees, sug- 
gested by the sacred roll of the Law. 

VII. The Lamb as it had been slain, the antitype 
of the victim of the daily sacrifice. 

For the present, we confine ourselves to the con- 



Zbc XLiue <3oD 



20 



sideration of the Throne of God, with its immediate 
accessories, the Seven Lamps, and the Crystal Sea, to 
learn therefrom, as I have said, what St. John learned 
from Christ, of the Power, the Character, and the 
Providence of God. 

I. The Power of God. — In the eternal world there 
is a Throne. Do we always remember all that this 
means ? In Europe and elsewhere at the present 
time great alarm is sometimes felt with regard to 
Anarchists. Suppose their efforts everywhere suc- 
cessful. Suppose every man doing what is right in 
his own eyes, and society broken up as in the Revolu- 
tion of 1789, when the tumbrils went morning by 
morning laden to the guillotine. Suppose this ex- 
isted throughout all the world, and extended from the 
world of men to the world of Nature. Suppose a 
world where gravitation is abolished, where stars, 
suns, seasons, heat and cold, rain and drought, forget 
the laws which govern them. If you can imagine 
such a world, you have a picture of the world without 
God reigning from His Throne. 

God's power is shown, not, as some imagine, in the 
infraction of Law, but in the keeping of Law. As 
our poet sings, — 

"Thou dost preserve the stars from wrong, 
And the most ancient heavens through Thee are fresh and 
strong." 

Nor is the Throne empty. Nor is it filled with a 
multiplicity of powers ruling the world with divided 
counsel. There is one Will, one Intelligence, one 
Power. " The Lord is King." 

Here is no circle of deities, as on Olympus, mutually 



30 Zbc TRevetation of "Gbe things tbat are" 



jealous, working one against the other, fighting one 
against the other. Here are no emanations, as in 
Gnosticism, no lower gods managing the world as 
God's viceroys, and bungling His policy. 

One God is on the Throne, regnant, " working even 
until now." His hand paints every flower, and shapes 
every leaf, forms every bud on every tree. He watches 
like a mother over the insect which sleeps away the 
night in the bosom of a flower, throws open the 
golden gates of day, and draws around a tired world 
the curtains of the night. He measures out the drops 
of every shower, the whirling snowflakes, and the 
sands of the life of man. He watches over the fall of 
a sparrow, and the fate of a kingdom, and so rules 
every tide of human fortune, that, come joy or sorrow, 
a man may say, " It is the Lord." 

The wisest of the heathen felt this to be the sheet- 
anchor of life. 

" I am He that is, and was, and shall be," was the 
impressive inscription upon the great Temple of Isis 
in Egypt. 

" What flows from His heart works on, and what 
He hath spoken stands for eternity," was the testi- 
mony of the Temple at Dendera. 

" The world," says Plutarch, " has a mind, a reason, 
and a helmsman." 

" God was, and is, and shall be," is the confession 
of Pausanias. 

"Seated on loftiest Throne," sings ^Eschylus, 
" thence, though we know not how, He works His 
perfect will." 

The Mohammedan legend tells us how He watches 
over things great and small, from King Solomon on 



tlbe Ztnc <3o£> 



31 



his throne to the little ant struggling through the 
rain. 

Whenever we look forth on Nature we cannot help 
feeling, what Napoleon felt beneath the starry sky of 
Egypt, that the order of the heavens is sufficient proof 
of the strong will of God. " Gentlemen," he answers 
the sceptics, " your arguments are very fine, but who 
made all these ? " 

In a little while we share the poet's ecstasy : — 

" Motionless torrents ! silent cataracts ! 
Who made you glorious as the gates of Heaven 
Beneath the keen full moon ? Who bade the sun 
Clothe you with rainbows ? Who with living flowers 
Of loveliest blue spread garlands at your feet ? 
God ! let the torrents like a shout of nations 
Answer, and let the ice-plains echo, God ! 
God ! sing, ye meadow streams, with gladsome voice. 
Ye pine-groves, with your soft and soul-like sounds ! 
And they too have a voice, ye piles of snow, 
And in their perilous fall shall thunder, God ! " 

2. But what is God ? What is He like that sitteth 
upon the Throne ? Simonides, asked to describe God, 
demanded first of all a day to prepare his answer, then 
a week, then a month, then a year, finally gave the 
matter up as impossible of solution. 

And St. John does not tell us what God is like. 
He is One, because there is no room for more than 
one God ; but St. John cannot describe God. He can 
only behold Him with the eyes of his spirit, and de- 
scribe to us His attributes in symbols and figures such 
as the mind of man can comprehend. 

He allows us to see the character of God, for that is 



32 gbe •Revetatton of "Gbe Gbtngs tbat 2ltc 99 



infinitely important. What avails it to have an om- 
niscient God, if His character does not satisfy our 
souls! What avails it to have a god like Jupiter, 
whose attributes are those of a thief, an adulterer, a 
murderer ! Man will never be better than his gods. 
We long, therefore, to know the character of God, for 
the promise is that we shall be perfect as our Father 
is in Heaven. 

St. John describes the character of God by the 
symbol of the three precious stones, the jasper, the 
sardius, and the emerald; the white stone, the red, and 
the green. 

The translucent gleam of the jasper is to teach the 
perfect purity and holiness of God. The whiteness 
is not the whiteness of snow, but the whiteness of heat. 
God's purity is the purity which gleams white through 
the fire of Judgment. 

The red glow of the sardius is the symbol of God's 
love— not the scarlet of the beast, but the red-hot 
glow of love such as the painters and poets of old 
represented by flames of fire. God's heart is on fire 
for us, flaming with love. 

And the green of the emerald circling like a rain- 
bow round about the Throne reminds us at once of 
the rainbow given after the Flood, the emblem of 
hope, the green of the spring earth which has passed 
through the judgment of winter, and now looks for- 
ward to a joyous summer and a generous harvest. 

We cannot have a better idea of the Character of 
God than that given us by these three stones, God, 
the God of holiness, of love, and of hope. 

This revelation of the character of God came to 
St. John through Jesus Christ, Who teaches us further- 



TTbe Gtue ©oD 



33 



more that the character of God is our own ideal. 
In the walls of the City of God the jasper, the sardius 
and the emerald have their place as well as about the 
Throne, and the walls of the City of God are builded 
up of the souls of redeemed men. If we then would 
be living stones in the great temple of souls, we must 
conform our characters to that of God, striving after 
God's white purity with the hands of faith, striving 
after God's warm love with the perfect love of our 
human hearts, and rising by hope above all tempta- 
tion and despair, praying that His mercy may save us, 
not from judgment, but through judgment unto His 
eternal Kingdom. 

3. There is one more revelation of God necessary. 
Power and Character are well, but there is one ques- 
tion more. Does God trouble about us ? St. John 
says emphatically, Yes. " I can," he would say, 
"through fellowship with Christ, reveal to you not 
only Power, not only Character, but also Providence. 
God concerns Himself with you." His whole ex- 
perience with Christ has been one long lesson to this 
end. 

Of this Providence there are three instruments 
placed before our minds. 

I. Thunders, lightnings, and voices from the 
Throne. 

II. Seven lamps of fire before the Throne. 

III. The sea of glass before the Throne 
What do these imply ? 

I. The Thunder and Lightnings remind us of 
Sinai, when God gave the Law. This is His first 
indication of interest in man, that He gives us Law. 

And He is still the Lawgiver. His thunders sound 



34 Sbe Mediation of « Zbc Zb^QQ tbat Bxc " 

in our ears against sin, His voices speak to us through 
our consciences. His Lightnings gleam before our 
minds and intellects. "I am the Lord," He wit- 
nesses to man ; " keep My laws." 

II. The Seven lamps bring before our minds the 
Seven Spirits of God which run through all the earth 
that is the perfect witness of the Spirit of God in the 
dispensation of the New Testament. The Lawgiver 
of the New Covenant comes with the flames of Pente- 
cost to add to the confession « I ought " the power to 
say " I can." When we hear the thunders of Sinai 
we are afraid, but we pray, « Lord, have mercy upon 
us, and incline our hearts to keep this law," and the 
fire of God's Spirit melts our hearts. So God shows 
His Providence not only in teaching us His will, but 
also in giving us grace to fulfil it. 

III. The sea of glass which forms the floor of 
Heaven is the world before the feet and under the 
eyes of God. With men, that sea, as we learn in 
another place, is tossed with waves ; then under the 
influence of God's judgments it is mingled with fire. 
But before God the sea of human destiny is forever 
clear as crystal. Human life to Him is no riddle. 
He who has created life sees His way to the per- 
fecting of it. He sees beyond Time, and Death, and 
Hell to the day when His judgments which are like 
the great deep will be easy to understand. 

Can we need greater comfort than that conveyed 
to us in such a revelation as this ? 

To know that God is able to help will give us 
courage to start out on the journey of life. Who 
will venture to resist His power? Shall we not 
rather harness ourselves to it, make it our own, and 



XLbc Grue <5oD 



35 



so make ourselves, as the allies of God, omnipotent 
over sorrow and sin ? 

To know that God is holy, and loving and merciful 
will speak to us of the direction in which we are to 
struggle, and the voices from within which we must 
heed. Shall we not strive to conform ourselves to 
the ideal suggested by the jasper, the sardius, and the 
emerald ? 

To know that God Himself is helping us more than 
we ever wished to help ourselves, ought not this to 
shut up forever the dungeons of despair ? 

That God has given us a Law to keep, 

That God has given us Grace wherewith we may 
keep that Law, 

That He sees all our life spread before Him like 
a map, that He is looking into this space of eternity 
we call Time, and sees all as in a mirror, who would 
not believe in such a God ? who does not find Him 
a God satisfying to every faculty of mind and spirit ? 

It is no wonder that St. John felt that Christ had 
revealed to him the " real God and the life which is 
eternal," and that he cried out with his latest utter- 
ance, " Little children, guard yourselves from the 
shadows." 

And his assurance should be our own. 

" There is an Eye which never sleeps 

Beneath the wing of night ; 
There is an Ear that never shuts 

When sink the beams of light ; 
There is an Arm which never tires 

When human strength gives way ; 
There is a Love which never fails 

When earthly loves decay." 



m 

THE UNIVERSAL CHURCH 

"And round about the Throne were four-and-twent, 
thrones and upon the thrones four-and-twenty elders sitting 
arrayed ,n whtte garments ; and on their heads crowns of 
gold." — Rev. 4:4. ' 

WE have now seen what constitutes a real 
God, whom man can worship,— a God 
perfect in power, perfect in character 
whose holiness is white as the jasper, whose love burns 
like the sardius, and around whom the emerald rain- 
bow witnesses eternally to Divine mercy and human 
hope; a God Whose Providence is exhibited perpet- 
ually, Who sends forth the thunders, lightnings, and 
voices of Sinai to teach us His Law, Who gives the 
sevenfold Spirit of Pentecost, that we may incline our 
hearts to keep this Law, and Who sees in the mirror 
of the crystal sea the future destiny of the Creation 
He has made. 

Let us now pursue further our reverent gaze into 
the opened Heaven, and see around the Throne the 
Ministry of the Ideal Church. May I remind you 
again that by the opened Heaven we mean, « not the 
discovery of a distant or future paradise, but the reve- 
lation of the Kingdom of God which is in the midst of 
us, the Divine order which is hidden from the eye but 
apart from which nothing that the eye beholds has 
any meaning or substance " ? 

36 



Gbe mniversal Cburcb 



37 



Knowing what God is, and knowing that He cares 
for the world, it must necessarily follow that the world 
should desire to worship Him. The organization of 
this worship, among those who hear His thunders, re- 
ceive His Spirit, and trust His Providence, is what we 
call the Church. 

We ask then, " What is the aspect of the Church be- 
fore God ? What is its ideal ? What its duty ? " 

The complete answer is exhibited in tableau in the 
words of the text. 

The Apostle sees around the Throne four-and- 
twenty thrones (not seats, as in A. V.). On these 
thrones four-and-twenty elders are seated. 

They are clothed with white garments. 

They have on their heads crowns of gold. 

They worship God by bending before Him, and 
casting at His feet their golden crowns with songs of 
praise. 

Such is the tableau which gives us in marvelous 
reality the character, the purpose, and the duty of the 
Church in the presence of God. 

Let us learn first the simple meaning of the symbols. 

I. The thrones around the Throne of God signify 
the fact that because God reigns and rules, His people 
also shall reign with Him. There is a sphere in which 
the Church of God is to be co-regnant with God, not 
in any earthly and temporal sense ; for " My Kingdom 
is not of this world," but in the spiritual realm. The 
Church is to be revealed as the woman, crowned with 
the luminaries of Heaven, with her foot upon the 
Dragon's head. " Ye also," said Christ to the Apos- 
tles, " shall sit upon twelve thrones judging the twelve 
tribes of Israel." The Divine Founder of the Church 



38 tlbe "Revelation of "Gbe Zbinge tbat Mxe" 



commits of His power to the Church. " All power is 
given unto Me : go ye therefore." 

This is an important fact, and marks the great gulf 
which separates so many pious people from the out- 
ward visible Body of Christ. The authority of the 
Church is from above, not below, not from the minis- 
ter, not from the people, but from Christ. The con- 
gregation is not the personal following of the clergy- 
man, but the body of Christ and members in particular. 
The minister is not the delegate of the congregation, 
but the minister of Christ, steward of the mysteries of 
God, responsible to Christ for the souls of those com- 
mitted to his care. The Church is not the society of 
a number of men who band themselves together, win 
a position, an influence, a solidarity, and then offer it 
to Christ as a present, but on the contrary the body 
created by the Spirit of God to conquer the world, and 
divinely empowered to fulfil a divine commission. 

II. The number of the thrones, probably suggested 
by the twenty-four courses of the Jewish priesthood, 
speaks of the perfect circle of ministry, the ministry 
which never fails, which is unbroken by death or 
change. It may also enshrine the idea of the union 
of the dispensations of the Old and New Testaments 
symbolizing the Church of all time, the Church of the 
Twelve Patriarchs and the Twelve Apostles. And 
the number twelve describes the completeness of the 
dispensation, composed as it is of the factors 3 and 4 
(3x4 signifying the result of spirit working in the 
world, as 3+4 makes 7 the number of rest). 

From whichever aspect we consider it, w r e have a 
picture of the whole Church before God. With the 
Eternal there is no time. The Church of God is ever 



XLbc Universal Cburcb 



before Him. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob appear with 
Peter, James and John. The Church of all ages, of 
all climes, of all stages of development, unites to form 
the perfect Priesthood which reigns and worships be- 
fore Him. It is a grand thought, and should help us 
to think of the Church in its corporate and historic 
character, as the sphere of grace, the guardian of 
truth, the ark of safety, as the body of redeemed hu- 
manity. Such a thought often before us would save 
us from much narrowness and misunderstanding. As 
the Twelve Apostles of the Lamb form the twelve 
courses of the walls of the New Jerusalem, so in our 
picture of the eternal world we see the Twelve Patri- 
archs and the Twelve Apostles forming one ever-serv- 
ing ministry. Thus the symbols and services of the 
Church become to us not an " earthly machinery for 
scaling a distant Heaven, but the witness of a Heaven 
nigh at hand, of a God dwelling in the midst of His 
people, of His being surrounded by spirits who do 
His pleasure, hearkening to the voice of His words." 

III. Next the character of the Church is shown to 
be twofold. 

The elders are clothed with white garments down to 
the feet as Christ appears in the prologue to the Book. 
That is, they are clothed like Him, in the Priestly robe 
of the Temple of God. They have on their heads 
crowns of gold. 

Thus the Church has the twofold function of Priests 
and Kings. It is, as St. Peter tells us, " a royal priest- 
hood," or, as St. John says, " a kingdom of priests." 

Let us keep this in mind — the Church has her royal 
and her priestly office. 

L She is royal, crowned because Christ is crowned. 



40 Gbe TRevelatlon of " Gbe Gbfngs tbat Bre " 



The function of the Church in the world is not only to 
proclaim the Kingdom of God, but to realize the King- 
dom of Man. Christ is the source of human power, and 
the Church is its sphere. The best Christian will be the 
best man, the strongest man. He will rule over Nature, 
over temptation, and over sin, the sin within and the sin 
without. He will rule over death, because he knows 
that death cannot separate him from the love of God. 

And the Church is meant to enable man to attain 
this royalty, in the presence of God. Conquest over 
the last enemy of man, over death, can only come by 
conquest over sin, for the sting of death is sin, and no 
man is a king while he remains the slave of sin. The 
ambassador of Pyrrhus spoke of the Roman Senate as an 
assembly of kings. So says St. John of the ideal Church. 
Every man should be a king through Jesus Christ — 

" The Son of God goes forth to war, 
A kingly crown to gain, ' ' 

and every " man who would be king " may accomplish 
his desire by following in his Master's train. 

Christ's is a kingdom where every man is a king. 
General Gordon was wont to call his boys his " kings." 
It was because his love burned to make them grand, 
good men, victorious over sins and circumstances. 
Thus his love made them a kingdom. And God has 
appointed the same for us — His Kingdom and our own. 

II. And the Church is also a Priesthood, " a royal 
priesthood." This is true in two ways, in a Godward 
and a manward aspect. 

The priest in the Old Testament had two duties to 
perform, to offer sacrifices to God and to make inter- 
cession for man. 



Gbe Tflnlversal Cburcb 



41 



So the Church has as her priestly office — 

1. To offer worship and adoration to God. In the 
Church, we are at the heart of the life of God. We 
move among the mysteries of God. We " are come 
unto Mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, 
the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable hosts of 
angels, to the general assembly and church of the first- 
born who are enrolled in Heaven, and to God the 
Judge of all." Oh ! if we realized this, how very dif- 
ferent our worship would be ! Angels continually 
around us ! The Holy Spirit within us ! God before 
us accepting our willing sacrifice ! It will be a won- 
derful day when, after this body is put off, we are 
clothed upon with higher faculties ; but oh ! it is more 
wonderful still to believe that we can already be in the 
" heavenly places " and dwell therein with Christ. The 
Heaven of the future is after all only the expansion 
and unfolding of the great things God hath already 
wrought for us and in us. 

2. The manward part, in interceding for and help- 
ing man, teaching those who are ignorant and out of 
the way. This is a very solemn part of the duty God 
has committed to us. The Church is intended to be 
the golden link of society, to reveal God, to reflect 
Christ, to take of the leaves of the Tree of Life for the 
healing of the nations outside, to act as watchmen on 
the walls of Jerusalem, crying aloud day and night to 
tell of the good hand of our God upon us, to take the 
hand of the feeble and bring them to God, to be, in 
short, the very reincarnation of the Christ who makes 
atonement for the sins of the world. How far from 
this is the ideal of some Christians, who, occupied with 
their own salvation, think themselves dispensed from 



42 



Cbe iRevelatfon of "gbe Gblngs tbat are" 



all notice of the outside world, imagining, as the Jew- 
ish Church did of old, that God had chosen them for a 
salvation which was apart from service ! 

How truly grand an idea can we form of the Church 
of God as described by St. John, receiving all power 
from Christ, in His Name going forth to conquer, rul- 
ing over all the principalities and powers of 'evil 
crushing underfoot the Dragon's head, and at the same 
time standing before God to present the hopes, the 
prayers, the aspirations of all mankind, standing ' like 
Phinehas between the living and the dead, pleading 
that God would spare His people, and then going forth 
to all those who are wounded and helpless on the road 
of life ! Grand, I say, to conceive such a picture, but 
grander still to realize it ! 

Let us try individually, with no self-conceit no 
thinking of the Church apart from Christ. Let us 
bend down from the royal thrones of our Christian 
privileges before the one Throne of the Eternal Father. 
Let us cast the crowns of our triumphant manhood be- 
fore the feet of the Eternal Godhead, and praise Him 
with heart and voice who has made us and redeemed 
us, and is sanctifying us by His Holy Spirit. For the 
supreme glory is the glory of worship such as this — 

" Kings their crowns for harps resign, 
Crying as they strike the chords, 
* Take the Kingdom, it is Thine, 
King of Kings and Lord of Lords.' 
Round the altar priests confess j 
If their robes are white as snow, 
'Twas the Saviour's righteousness 
And His blood that made them so." 



IV 



THE IDEAL NATURE 

" And in the midst of the Throne, and round about the 
Throne, four living creatures full of eyes before and behind. 
And the first creature was like a lion, and the second creature 
like a calf and the third creature had a face as of a man, 
and the fourth creature was like a flying eagle" — Rev. 
4 : 6-8. 




E have now advanced sereral steps in the 
consideration of the world of realities as 
revealed to St. John. 



We have seen something of the nature of the real 
God — a necessary step, since, as Hierocles said long 
ago, " the whole force of worship lies in the knowledge 
of that which is worshiped " ; and, in the second 
place, we have seen the dispensation of God towards 
man as revealed in the picture of the Ideal Church. 
We saw there all dispensations gathered together into 
one — Man enthroned, crowned with glory and honour, 
Man as a Divine priesthood ever engaged in the 
worship of God and the service of man. 

We now go one step further, and see another 
comprehensive picture unfolded before us — one, more- 
over, it is of the utmost importance we should keep 
before our eyes, viz., Universal Nature before the 
Throne of God. 

There never was a time when Nature was more 
thoroughly being explored than now, a time when 

43 



44 Cbe -Revelation of "Cbe XLbitiQB tbat 2Ue" 



men were so earnest and so honest in learning the 
lessons of the universe. In one direction we find a 
rivalry in the construction of enormous object-glasses 
for telescopes, and immense cameras for the photo- 
graphing of the heavens ; and in another direction a 
similar rivalry to obtain a higher power in the objec- 
tives of the microscope. One man spends his life in 
the investigation of the tongues of butterflies ; another 
shuts himself up in the forests of Africa to learn the 
speech of gorillas. One condemns himself to years of 
exile in Polar seas, and another risks his life among 
African savages. 

In our schools Natural Science is made easy and at- 
tractive, and now of almost every child, as of Agassiz, 
the poet's words are true, 

"Nature, the old nurse, took 

The child upon her knee, 
Saying, < Here is a story-book 

Thy Father has written for thee. 
Come wander with me,' she said, 

' Into regions yet untrod, 
And read what is still unread 

In the manuscripts of God.' " 

But with all this it is very startling to see how little 
the religious nature of such studies is realized. How 
little do men and children alike seem aware that they 
are working or playing with " the living garment of 
God"— "a mighty sum of things forever speaking" 
and telling of the glory of the Creator of the universe. 

What mistakes are made ! 

Some fancy that such subjects are entirely secular, 
and look with jealousy upon every fresh discovery, 



Gbe 1 deal mature 



45 



as though it might perchance upset the truth as we 
have it from God. 

Some make Nature a god in itself, and speak of 
" Holy Nature leading onward the kindred of the 
gods " — so falling into an idolatry as gross as that of 
the sun-worshiper. 

Some make Nature a blind, pitiless force, working 
the way of fate, like a blind Samson grinding in the 
prison-house of the Philistines. 

Some make it nothing but a haphazard aggregate 
of capricious atoms, the ultimate result of whose 
kaleidoscopic combinations can never be predicted — 
the sport of chance. 

Some again speak of Nature as though it were a 
wound-up clock whose key has been given to the 
Angel of Time, a sort of machine which God made 
once, but for which He cares nothing now, revealing 
His presence but occasionally in what men call 
miracles. 

That all these theories are wrong it is scarcely 
necessary to prove. Many would say to-day with 
some complacency, " Ah, we have grown to know 
better ! " Let us see to-day that more than eighteen 
centuries ago Christ taught us better, that we have in 
the vision granted to St. John a picture of Nature 
which gives us the whole truth respecting the relation 
of God to His works. 

Let us first form a mental visualization of the pic- 
ture. Around the Throne are four Living-ones (not 
"beasts," as A. V. so unhappily renders it — Zwov not 

07jpx). 

They are full of eyes before and behind, and each 
has six wings as in the vision of Isaiah. In form they 



Zbc 'Revelation of " Cbe Cblngs tbat Bre " 



resemble respectively a lion, an ox, a man, and an 
eagle. As for their occupation, they are continually 
chanting before God the Trisagion, 

"Holy, Holy, Holy, 
Lord God, the Almighty, 
Who was, Who is, Who shall be." 

I t need not say that all the symbols employed are 
old and well worn in the literature of Judaism. St. 
John collects them from various parts of the Old Tes- 
tament, and reclothes them for Christian use. Let us 
see briefly what they teach us about Nature. 

I. Nature circles around the Throne of God.— It is 
not independent, not a goddess, not a department of 
the universe hostile to, or disowned by, God. Nature 
operates in the very presence of God, so that he who 
goes to study Nature goes before the Throne of 
Deity. All true students of Nature have felt this, 
from the Psalmist confessing, "The heavens declare 
the glory of God," to the latest explorer of the vast- 
ness of God's works. Truly, « the undevout astron- 
omer is mad," and equally so " the undevout biologist " 
or " the undevout botanist." 

II. Nature is homogeneous and universal, as is 
taught by the use of the number " four." It is not 
divided up into antagonistic powers, like the Nature 
conceived of by the Persians. Ormuzd and Ahriman, 
God and Satan, do not strive for ascendancy. The 
whole is God's—the darkness and the light. « I make 
the light, and I create the darkness." "He maketh 
the winds His ministers, and the flames of fire His 
messengers." « He rode upon the cherubim, and did 
fly ; He came flying upon the wings of the wind." 



Gbe flOeal mature 



47 



III. Nature is living. — So we are taught by its ex- 
pression in the "Living ones." God's purpose still 
throbs within the heart of the universe. His Spirit 
still inspires its manifold operations. His will lives in 
stars and suns, in meteors and comets, in winds and 
storms. They move obedient to His word. Gravita- 
tion is but the expression of Divine volition. As the 
Book of Wisdom tells us, God's Almighty Word leaps 
down from Heaven out of His royal Throne to accom- 
plish the effects of Nature. 

IV. Nature is full of eyes.— It is not blind. It 
" looks before and after." There is design behind, and 
there is purpose ahead. Even Science teaches us thus 
much. We do not need a God more powerful or more 
wise than Darwin's « Natural Selection," although we 
need more than Natural Selection to reveal to us the 
love of God. The more we study Nature, the more 
we shall see that far back in the primordial chaos there 
was a pattern revealed from God's holy mount to the 
myriad atoms who were made to fulfil His purpose. 
And with regard to ourselves we have individually the 
conviction, " Thine eyes did see my substance, yet be- 
ing imperfect ; and in Thy book were all my members 
written." 

V. Nature is winged.—Not only does Divine om- 
niscience accompany Nature in its action, but the 
symbol of the wings tells us that the created work of 
God does not grovel in the dust, but soars " unwear- 
iedly to higher and ever higher heights of excellence." 
Since the purpose of Nature is to reveal the character 
of God, it must ever ascend. What is this but what 
we learn in the doctrine of Evolution, a doctrine which 
shook some men's faith when first announced, but 



48 Sbe TRevelation of "Gbe Gbfngs tbat »re" 



which it now seems difficult to conceive of apart from 
the Christian revelation ? 

VI. And Natures wings are sixfold, or rather, as de- 
scribed in Isaiah's vision, arranged in three pairs. 
" With twain they covered their face, with twain they 
covered their feet, and with twain they did fly." 

Two wings, that is, for worship, for reverent veiling 
of the face in the presence of God. 

Two wings for waiting, for restraining the feet from 
unbidden activity. 

Two wings for working, for flying forth on the wings 
of the wind upon the errands of God. 

Such is the service of Nature, the perfect service 

Reverence, Restraint, and Activity. That is the model 
of all service, the way to do God's will on earth, as it 
is done in Heaven. 

VII. But what is meant by the grotesque shapes 
which are borne by the " living ones " ? 

St. John took his images from the Eastern idea of 
the cherubim or griffins— composite creatures intended 
to represent the manifold aspects of God in Nature. 
We find the image used in many parts of the Old 
Testament. God placed cherubim at the gates of Eden. 
They were placed above the mercy-seat of the Ark in 
the Tabernacle. They appear in Ezekiel's vision as 
forming the living chariot of Nature. It is from this 
vision that St. John borrows them, making them 
four instead of fourfold. 

They represent to us the manifold aspects of 
Nature. 

The Lion brings before us the courage, majesty, and 
peerless might of God in Nature, the Assyrian ideal of 
Deity, God going forth to judge, searching for His 



Gbe Hfceal Mature 



49 



prey, rending every evil beast which opposes the path 
of man. 

The Ox (ox Bull-calf) brings out the Egyptian ideal 
of God in Nature, the ideal of usefulness, patience, in- 
dustry, the power in the universe which turns all toil 
into fruitfulness, all sacrifice into gain. 

The Man witnesses to the Greek ideal, — Nature lu- 
minous with wisdom and intelligence, exhibiting reason 
and forethought, wisely ordered and humanely in- 
spired. 

And the Eagle embodies symbolically the Roman 
ideal, and indeed the ideal of the West generally, Na- 
ture working out a " progressive evolution in the pur- 
poses of God," working upwards with intelligence, 
penetration, and discernment to the central Sun of the 
universe. 

In these seven points is gathered up the inspired 
conception of Nature, and the whole is put before us, 
not as a fossil into whose bosom men dig, turning over 
the strata and saying " Here's law, where's God ? " but 
a living creation worshiping God, praising Him as our 
" Benedicite " suggests it should, and crying, " Holy, 
Holy, Holy, Lord God of Hosts ; the whole earth is 
full of Thy Glory." 

Have we not here a wonderful picture, and one 
which puts a new force into St. Paul's words, " The 
earnest expectation of the Creation waiteth for the 
revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was 
subject to vanity, not of its own will, but by reason of 
Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself 
also shall be delivered from the bondage of cor- 
ruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of 
God?" 



50 ftbe Revelation of "Gbe ZbiriQs tbat are" 



But what has all this to do with us practically ? The 
example of Christ ought to enable us easily to see. 
Christ is not only a part of Nature, but " the first-born 
of all creation," the epitome and the goal of all Nature ; 
He is Nature in its ideal conception, and Nature in its 
ultimate perfection— the absolute affirmation and con- 
summation of God's design. Earth, says a Chinese 
proverb, is " Yes, no," but Heaven is " Yes, yes." So 
Christ is Nature's eternal " Yea." 

And in Him we are able to behold all the ideal 
characteristics of Nature realized. He is Nature liv- 
ing, ascending, full of eyes before and behind. His 
is the perfect service, the service of worship, of waiting 
and of work. And as the four Evangelists have in 
turn regarded Him, He is the expression of every at- 
tribute of God's perfect work,— the Lion of the Tribe 
of Judah, the Man of infinite wisdom and of sorrow, 
acquainted with all human grief; the Ox enduring, 
suffering, offered up as sacrifice ; and the Eagle soar- 
ing up into the counsels of the Eternal Father, the 
Word of God, and with God. 

And as His followers, we are called upon to be Na- 
ture's epitome in the same way. Physiologically, we 
are this in very fact. We are meant to be so spirit- 
ually. We are meant to help on the redemption of all 
creation, to lift up all things to God, to give God our 
life, to stand worshiping before His Throne, to stand 
waiting for His orders, to go forth winged on His serv- 
ice, to continue in His sight strong and royal like the 
lion, patient and suffering as the ox, wise and benevo- 
lent as the man, soaring and aspiring as the eagle. 

Then shall our praise be perfect before God. The 
groaning of struggle and trial shall issue in the 



Gbe flfceal mature 



71 



Trisagion of praise for glory perfected. Our eternal 
song shall be in unison with all created things : — 

" Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord." 

" O all ye works of the Lord, bless ye the Lord : 
Praise Him, and magnify Him forever." 

" Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Hosts, heaven 
and earth are full of Thy glory; glory be to Thee, O 
Lord most high." 



V 



THE SEVEN-SEALED BOOK 

"And I saw in the right hand of Him that sat on the 
Throne a book written within and on the back, close sealed 
with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming 
with a great voice, Who is worthy to open the book, and to 
loose the seals thereof? And no one in the Heaven or on the 
earth, or under the earth, was able to open the book, or to 
look thereon. And I wept much, because no one was found 
worthy to open the book, or to look thereon."— Rev. 5 : 1-4. 

IT must have been no small consolation to the 
Apostle to see what has already been unveiled 
in the fourth chapter of the Apocalypse. He 
looked up from a world bathed in blood, a world reek- 
ing with corruption and shaking with earthquakes, 
wars, and revolutions, to a world serene in the bright- 
ness of God's presence, stable and strong upon the 
hills of holiness. Rising on the wings of the spirit 
from a world daily growing worse, a world in which 
the state of the Church daily grew more hazardous, 
it must have been an indescribable satisfaction for St. 
John to see the vision of a Throne set high in Heaven, 
a government whose energies were full of eyes of pur- 
pose and wings of power. It must have come to him 
with a peace and hope which made him as "the 
shadow of a great rock in a weary land " to those who 
sought his counsel. 

But there is more to come. 

52 



Zbc Sevcn*SealcD JSooft 



53 



St. John looks again at Him who sits upon the 
Throne, and perceives in His right hand a book, or 
rather a roll written upon both within and without, 
and sealed with seven seals, that is completely and 
closely sealed. 

There is but little difficulty in determining the first 
meaning of this. 

St. John takes the symbol from the prophets of his 
nation. 

In Jer. 36 : 2 we read how the prophet, at God's 
direction, sends a roll to King Jehoiakim, full of God's 
decrees of judgment against the idolatrous King and 
nation. 

In Ezek. 2:9, 10, a hand is sent to Ezekiel, and lo, 
a roll of a book is therein. " And he spread it before 
me ; and it was written within and without : and there 
was written therein lamentations, and mourning, and 
woe." 

And in Zech. 5 : 1, the prophet is shown a flying 
roll containing the judgments of God against the 
wicked of the land. 

Therefore we may safely say that we have in St, 
John's vision the book of God's eternal decrees, the 
counsel of His will, the purpose of God with regard to 
the Church and the world, as exhibited in His dealings, 
first towards Jerusalem, and secondly towards the 
Roman Empire. 

When a decree was promulgated, to make it of cer- 
tain authority, it was written and signed. So the 
Decalogue was graven upon tables of stone. So the 
Babylonian princes caused King Darius to make a 
decree and cause it to be written, signed, and sealed 
with his own signet, that it might be like the decrees 



54 £be iRevelation of 44 Cbe Gbtngs tbat are " 



of the Medes and Persians, which alter not. So again, 
when Christ appealed especially to the eternal laws of 
God, He said, " It is written," " TiypxTzrt "_« It stand- 
eth written! 1 

Thus the immutable decrees of God are said to be 
written. Many of us have been puzzled to imagine 
how the freewill of God could coexist with the freewill 
of man. It is one of those paradoxes against which 
we inevitably run in pursuing any metaphysical ques- 
tion beyond a certain point. A straight line infinitely 
produced becomes a circle. The best proof of the be- 
lief that freewill in God and in man does in either 
case exist lies in the impossibility of believing one 
without the other,— in believing that God has freewill, 
while man is only a slave, an automaton governed by 
a tyrannical fate ; or that man has freewill, while God's 
plans may be eternally baffled by human choice. We 
may see, too, some glimpses of a solution in learning 
that man is only free as he gets free from the bonds of 
sin, and that his highest freedom is in power to do the 
will of God. The liberty of the sons of God is the lib- 
erty to do what God wishes His children to do, the 
liberty to obey the voice of the Spirit speaking within. 

And from such a point of view the belief in God's 
decrees need never savor of fatalism and pre-damna- 
tion. As an able writer puts the matter : " Many of 
us have been jealous of the doctrine that God has a 
written plan for each separate human life, to which 
every will must bow by grim necessity. We have re- 
garded such a doctrine as fatal to freedom, to morality, 
to religion, and as time has passed our contention has 
been justified by an ever-increasing concurrence of 
opinion. But we have had no jealousy of the doctrine 



Zbc 5everi*Sealed 3Booft 



55 



that God has foreordained what He Himself shall bring 
to pass — that God has settled plans, the counsel of His 
own unerring wisdom, by which He ever works and 
guides the world to its certain destiny. Such a faith 
is of prime necessity when men are called upon to 
struggle for the true and right in the face of odds that 
might well appal the stoutest heart. It was a faith es- 
sential to the earliest pioneers of Gospel truth, as they 
flung themselves into the midst of savage hordes to 
conquer or to die. Without this faith the fires of per- 
secution would have withered the spirits of our own 
reforming forefathers. Instead of battling against 
mighty odds with a faith that rarely died, and a 
strength like the very strength of God, because they 
held themselves to be guided by a Will that was in- 
vincible, they must needs have yielded to despair and 
crept into their mountain caves to die like beaten dogs. 
Through the faith that their cause was God's and that 
God marches to certain victory, the weakest was made 
mighty to labour and to endure." 1 

The main distinction which prevents such a doctrine 
from degenerating into fatalism is the assurance that 
the Book of decrees is in God's right hand — that is, 
held by the instrument of His almighty power. God 
is able to bring what He has willed to good effect. 

In Greek mythology Zeus himself is subject to an 
overshadowing fate. In the Scandinavian Eddas Odin 
and all the ^Esir are powerless to alter the decrees of 
the fateful Norns. But in Christianity the legislative 
and executive branches of Divine rule are in One — one 
all-wise Will, one almighty Arm. 

And, because this is so, we may be content to learn 

1 Brown : " The Great Day of the Lord," p. 34. 



XZbe TRevelation of "Gbe ZbiriQe tbat &re" 



that nothing can be added to or taken away from God's 
dispensation with regard to the world. His book is 
written within and without. There is no space for 
further writing. No man can add to what God has 
decreed. 

- How very often it seems as though men have been 
making history for themselves, as though men like 
Caesar , Luther, and Napoleon were by their own indi- 
vidual prowess and will diverting the whole current of 
events. Yet there needs only a century or two to 
elapse before it might be maintained, on the other 
hand, that they had been but puppets in the hand of 
destiny. Both views are wrong. Men are neither the 
makers of history nor the puppets of fate. But the 
interplay of the freewill of God and that of man brings 
about in the end what God has foreordained, and no 
line is added to the Divine writing. 

And, for the present, the roll is sealed, close sealed- 
concealed from every eye but His who sits upon the 
Throne. 

It is one of the commonplaces of moralizing to speak 
of this — to say how little man can foresee the future, 
to show how in all ages men have strained their eyes 
in the darkness and have seen nothing but visions of 
the night, the creation of their dreams. 

The cry of all the ages has been, " Who can open 
this book ? Who can break the seals which lock its 
contents from the eyes of men?" And no one in 
Heaven, or in earth, or under the earth, with the one 
exception St. John is soon to relate, has been able to 
accomplish this task. 

On this account the world has been full of weeping. 
There has been such consternation as that which seized 



XLbc Seven^ScaleO Booft 



57 



the nobles of Babylon in the palace of Belshazzar when 
they saw writing on the wall which they could neither 
interpret nor read. 

It has been the lament of half the world's poets and 
philosophers that the counsels of God are hid by so 
dense a cloud that the human spirit is baffled in its 
struggle to pierce the veil. Consequently, in all ages, 
not least in our own, the world has demanded and 
paid for its augurs, its prophets, its necromancers, its 
astrologers, its fortune-tellers, and its wizards. 

Yet the times and the seasons are kept in the 
Father's hands. 

And there is a solution. 

What that solution is we shall see in our next chap- 
ter, but, so much we may say for the present, the Book 
of God may be read, and shall be read when One ap- 
pears who has " a perfect apprehension of the mind of 
God," and " a perfect apprehension of the wants and 
longings of the human heart." Intimate relationship 
with God will supply the needed knowledge ; intimate 
relationship with man will supply the interpretation 
for human ears. 

So the tears — human as they are — may be dried, 
while Hope poises above us with halcyon wings. 

Yes, meanwhile, while we wait for the great solution, 
surely we may learn the lesson of the old patriarchs 
who themselves received not the promises, yet reached 
out into the darkness, and trusted God's love and wis- 
dom in the dim future of the unknown life. Surely we 
may trust God as they did. 

When God's decrees are made known to us, the 
revelation will not be all sweet. The open book which 
God will set before us, not only to read but to digest, 



58 XLbc TRevetatfon of " Cbe Gbinge tbat Bre " 



not only to look upon but to eat, will be both sweet 
and bitter— sweet in the knowledge of His love, bitter 
in the knowledge that His judgment too must have its 
place in us. So St. John found it for himself and for 
Jerusalem ; so Ezekiel found it for himself and for the 
Jerusalem of his day; so must we find it for ourselves. 

But knowing the need of the bitter as well as of the 
sweet, knowing that His judgments are medicinal, 
educative, strengthening and purifying, we may trust 
Him. 

"Peace, perfect peace, our future all unknown ; 
Jesus we know— and He is on the Throne." 
Yes, « He is on the Throne." The secret of our 
life and its discipline is not in the hand of some one 
hostile to us. Our fortune is not governed by some 
unlucky or baleful star. It is in the hands of Him 
who is 

"Too wise to err, too good to be unkind." 
One is coming who shall reveal it all, and then we 

shall know as we are known. A day will come it 

cannot be very long for any of us— when every seal 
shall be broken, and the whole book of life spread out 
before our eyes. 

And this, I think, will to our eyes be the strangest 
part of the revelation, that although we shall see 
clearly our life to have been guided and directed by 
the Providence of God, we shall also recognize that 
every line has been traced by our own hand as well. 
No interference has taken place with our own freewill, 
yet every graven character is our own. Our life has 
been written as the impalpable wind writes the record 
of the anemometer. 



Zbe SevensgealeD JBoofc 



59 



May God grant that long before this revelation is 
given us we may have had from the Lamb slain on 
Calvary light upon and insight into our present life, to 
know its secret and its power ! 



VI 



THE SLAUGHTERED LAMB 

" And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not ; behold, 
the Lion that is of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, 
hath overcome, to open the book and the seven seals thereof 
And I saw in the midst of the Throne and of the four living 
creatures, and in the midst of the elders, a Lamb standing, 
as though it had been slain, having seven horns, and sevm 
eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent forth into all 
the earth. And He came, and He taketh it out of the right 
hand of Him that sat on the Throne. "—Rev. 5 : 5-7. 

WE were left weeping, because no one in 
Heaven, or earth, or under the earth could 
break the seals of the Book of Mystery in 
the right hand of God. They were human tears for 
what seemed the complete failure of man to compass 
the designs of God. 

But we were also left to comfort ourselves with the 
faith of the Old Testament, to trust in God, to repose in 
God's faithfulness and truth, to rest in the confidence 
that in His right hand the record of life was safe. 

That was something. It is indeed something to 
have attained a share of the faith of Abraham, " the 
father of the faithful," of Joseph, and of Job. But 
after the Old Testament comes the New. " God hath 
provided some better thing for us." There is a new 
answer. So much the Old Testament itself promises 
us. The dying Joseph encourages his children,, " God 

60 



Zbc SlaugbtereD Xamb 



61 



will surely visit you," and the afflicted Job triumphs 
over the corruption of his flesh with the assurance, " I 
know that My Redeemer liveth." 

In accordance with this St. John sees one of the 
elders — one of the representatives of this Old Testa- 
ment Church — come forward to proclaim the wiping 
away of tears in the arrival of a Champion for dis- 
tressed and bewildered mankind. Who shall it be? 
Moses, the giver of the Law ? One of the old proph- 
ets ? Nay, but One of whom both the Law and the 
Prophets speak. 

So he goes on to proclaim Him by two titles, one 
from the Law, 

" The Lion of the tribe of Judah," 

and one from the Prophets, 

"The Root of David." 

They are titles which connect the Deliverer with the 
brightest hopes of Israel, the grandest promises of the 
old prophetic word. He who is coming is the con- 
quering seed of David, the man of war, and of Judah, 
" Chosen to be ruler." He is " the mystery which 
hath been hid from all ages and generations, but now 
hath been manifested to the Saints." In Him the 
darkness is passing away and the true light already 
shineth." 

So much could the seers of the Old Covenant say of 
the coming King, pointing Him out as John the Bap- 
tist pointed out the Christ on the banks of Jordan. 

But in what form does the Lion-stem of David pre- 
sent Himself to St. John ? Ah ! just as all Israel was 
astonished at Him, so may St. John well have been 
surprised. For the elder spoke of the Lion, and be- 



62 flbe IRevelatfon of " Gbe Cblngs tbat 2lce " 



held a Lamb ; he spoke of a conquering Hero, and be- 
held a slaughtered Victim. 
What did this mean? 

It was not altogether contradictory of Jewish expec- 
tation. As the light of prophecy got clearer, the in- 
spired Jew could see that the Deliverer to spring 
from his down-trodden and suffering race must be in 
one respect like the race itself, a sufferer, a Man of 
Sorrows and acquainted with grief. 

So although still proclaiming Him as Prophet, 
Priest, and King, the Evangelical Prophet predicts of 
Him that He is to go as a lamb to the slaughter and 
like a dumb sheep into the hands of the shearers. 

And though many in Israel heeded not the words, 
yet some did, or St. John Baptist would never have 
cried as he did, « Behold the Lamb of God." 

So again we find in the Book of Enoch— written, at 
least in parts, b. c— the Messiah spoken of in one 
place as a sheep appointed for sacrifice, and in another 
as " a white steer." Again in the Testaments of the 
Twelve Patriarchs we read of the Virgin appearing in 
Judah, out of whom shall come a Lamb unspotted. 
Against Him the beasts of the earth contend, but the 
Lamb treads them underfoot and reigns. And in the 
same work Joseph is represented as calling the Mes- 
siah " the Lamb of God." 

The Idea then was one of long growth, rooted in 
the great central doctrine revealed by God in Christ 
that the law of Sacrifice is the law of Life. 

To develop and illustrate this wonderful revelation, 
a revelation which must inevitably revolutionize a 
man's whole conception and plan of life, we have 
presented before us seven characteristics of the Lamb, 



Gbe Slaugbtered Zamt> 



63 



which taken together mark His perfect fitness to be 
the Solver of the problems of existence. 

I. The Lamb has been slain — slaughtered. There 
in Heaven the red wounds show, before angels and 
men and God Himself. Christ wears His wounds 
not as marks of failure, but as gems of victory. 

II. The Lamb is in the midst of the Throne — at 
the heart of the omnipotence of God. As a writer 
already quoted puts it : " Blind unbelief so proud 
to be ' unduped of fancy,' says, 

' He is dead. Far hence He lies 
In the lone Syrian town ; ' 

but to those who have eyes to see, God has made it 
plain that Christ has really ascended up to imperial 
power and splendor in the heavens. 

" God is never in the future to be severed from this 
Lamb. His Throne is never to be seen apart from 
Jesus crucified ; in its very thunderings and light- 
nings there is the spirit of gentleness and love that 
suffered unto death that we might live." 1 In all 
directions the energies of God flow out through the 
principles of self-sacrifice and mercy. God's Throne 
is stablished upon the principle for which Christ 
died. 

III. He is in the midst of the Living-ones. From 
Nature the Christ arises, not unnatural, not a mon- 
strosity, but Nature's crown, the supremely Natural, 
the Centre and Topstone of the universe. He is 
" the first-born of all creation ; for in Him were all 
things created, in the heavens and upon the earth, 
things visible and things invisible, whether thrones 

1 Brown : « The Great Day of the Lord," 



64 Zbc TRevelation of "Zbc GbniQs tbat 2lre" 



or dominions or principalities or powers ; all things 
have been created through Him, and unto Him, and 
He is before all things ; and in Him all things con- 
sist." 1 

IV. He is in the midst of the mystic circle of the 
elders. He arises not only from Nature but from 
the Church of God. He is the true development 
of the operation of God in all dispensations, the true 
end and fulfilment of all the religious aspirations of 
men. For " He is the Head of the Body, the Church : 
who is the beginning, the first-born from the dead ; 
that in all things He might have the preeminence. 
For it was the good pleasure of the Father that in 
Him should all the fulness dwell ; and through Him 
to reconcile all things unto Himself, having made 
peace through the blood of His Cross ; through Him, 
I say, whether things upon the earth, or things in 
the heavens." 

V. And though a slain Lamb, He is mighty to 
rule. The government of the Lamb is not to be one 
of weak amiability or incompetent benevolence. He 
has seven horns. 

The horn in old Hebrew poesy is always the symbol 
of force. Hannah confesses in her song her belief 
that Jehovah " shall give strength unto His King 
and exalt the horn of His Anointed." Zedekiah 
the son of Chenaanah made horns of iron to typify 
the might of Ahab against Syria. 2 

Here the seven horns is the symbol of perfect 
strength. The Lamb is mighty to subdue all things 

1 Col. I : 16, 17. 

2 1 Sam. 2 : io; I Kings 22 : n ; cf. also Zech. 1 : 18 ; Ps. 75 : 10; 
22; 21. 



Gbe SlauflbtercD %amb 



65 



unto God. Thor in vain attempted to bind Fenris- 
wulf with the strongest chains ; but Tyr, sacrificing 
his own hand, bound the monster with threads of 
gossamer. So does the sacrifice of the Lamb of God 
bind the fury of hell. The lords of this world must 
cry, "Galilaean, Thou hast conquered." The idols 
of this world must tumble from their pedestals and 
be cast to the moles and the bats. The symbol of a 
malefactor's death shall become the glory of a re- 
juvenated world, the cross of shame the banner of 
conquest. 

VI. Further, the Lamb is invested not only with 
powers of judgment, but with powers of quickening. 
He has seven eyes—\hat is, He is dowered with Divine 
omniscience, to discern even to the thoughts and 
intents of the heart. He is infinite in wisdom as He 
is infinite in power. If a man would go to school to 
learn the wisdom of God, he must go to the school 
of the Lamb, and sit beside the Cross, and learn 
that 

"Knowledge by suffering entereth, 
And life is perfected by death." 

VII. And, lastly, we have described to us the 
great act by which the kingdom of the universe is 
committed to the Son of Man. The Lamb takes — 
" hath taken " that is, takes to keep— the book out of 
the right hand of Him that sits upon the Throne. 
Here we behold the Old Testament revelation dis- 
solving into the new light of the Gospel morning. 
The dispensation of angels, of Moses, of Aaron, of 
Joshua, is changing into the dispensation of the Son, 
who as master of the house is taking His authority to 



66 



ftbe TRevetatfon of " tEbe Gbiwe tbat are'' 



reign. "The Lamb is now the power of God 
Henceforth it must be known that all highest power 
must take the form of love, and that they alone know 
God who see Him through this once suffering, now 
triumphant Mediator." 

The apotheosis of the Lamb we shall consider soon 
but we may well pause here to note that St. John is' 
describing to us in an apocalyptic form and from an 
ideal standpoint the very facts which the Church 
commemorates on Palm Sunday. As we see our 
Lord riding into Jerusalem upon an ass, surrounded 
by the Apostles and the Multitude, riding on to die 
what is it but the advance of the Lamb out of the 
midst of God's Throne, out of the midst of Nature 
out of the midst of the Church, to receive from the 
hand of God the seven-sealed book, to the end that 
gazing upon the Cross we all might read in large 
letters the story of God's loving purpose in the destiny 
of man? 

Are we not convinced that here we have that 
which puts all our doubts and fears to shame? God's 
"love is discovered almighty." Not only does 
sacrifice commend itself to us as heroism, as worthy 
of monuments and poems and Victoria Crosses, but 
it commends itself too as the highest wisdom and the 
highest power. By such means the universe itself 
is governed, even by the eternal crucifixion of God 
for man. 

And such must be our course if we would hereafter 
bear the palm and wear the crown of victory. 

Here the mockery, the crown of thorns, and the 
awful scourge; there the victory, the joy, the knowl- 
edge of the secrets of God. 



Zbc SlaugbtereO Xamb 



Those who shun the Cross may spend their days 
and nights in toilsome study of Nature's secrets, but 
they will find the seven-sealed book closed forever, 
and will end their days as despairing pessimists ; but 
they who humbly take up the Cross and follow Christ 
will learn in their pilgrimage a " wisdom the weary 
schoolmen never knew," and at the Lamb's great feast 
on high will join in the song of Nature, and of the 
Church and of all the jubilant host of Heaven. 

Then the victory, the knowledge of the hidden 
counsels of God, and the reception from the right hand 
of God of the royalty and dominion of glorified 
humanity. 

Shall we not strive to make this ours ? 

" Up and follow, Christian men, 

Press through toil and sorrow ; 
Spurn the night of fear, and then, 

Oh, the glorious morrow ! 
Who will venture on the strife ? 

Blest who first begin it ! 
Who will grasp the hand of life ? 

Warriors, up and win it ! " 



VII 

THE TRIUMPH OF THE LAMB 

. « And when He had taken the book, the four living crea- 
tures and the four-and-twenty elders fell down before the 
Lamb, having each one a harp, and golden bowls full of in- 
cense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sing a 
new song, saying, Worthy art Thou to take the book and to 
open the seals thereof: for Thou wast slam, and didst pur- 
chase unto God with Thy blood men of every tribe, and 
tongue, and people, and nation, and madest them to be unto 

°" « I 1 r ngd ° m and P riests and th °y reign upon the earth. 

And I saw, and I heard a voice of many angels round 
about the Throne and the living creatures and the elders ; 
and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thou- 
sand, and thousands of thousands ; saying with a great voice 
Worthy ,s the Lamb that hath been slain to receive the 
power, and riches, and wisdom, and might, and honour, and 
glory, and blessing. 

« And every created thing which is in the heaven and on 
the earth and under the earth, andon the sea, and all things 
that are tn them, heard I saying, Unto Him that sitteth on 
the lhrone, and unto the Lamb, be the blessing, and the 
honour, and the glory, and the dominion, forever and ever 
And the four living creatures said, Amen. And the elders 
fell down and worshiped." — R EV . 5 : 8-14. 

WE have now come to the close of our seven- 
fold picture. We have seen God revealed 
in His almighty power and wisdom ; and 
we have seen before Him the Sea of human destiny 
clear as crystal and smooth as glass ; around Him we 



Gbe Gdumpb of tbe %nmb 



have beheld the double circle of Elders and Living 
ones representing the universal Church and universal 
Nature ; proceeding from Him we saw the sevenfold 
Spirit of holiness going forth into all the earth ; in His 
right hand we saw the seven-sealed Book of Mystery. 
And in our last chapter we saw the Lamb slain from 
the foundation of the earth — that is, the eternal prin- 
ciple of sacrifice revealed in the death of Christ as a 
means whereby the Book of God might be opened for 
man, and man permitted to know the meaning of life. 

It is true that God seems to keep some things veiled 
from us. There are secrets still, for 

"it is not well for life 
To learn too soon the lovely secrets kept 
For them that die." 

But it is indeed true that, when we know Christ, there 
is no more seven-sealed book for us. We have then 

" Enough for guidance and for victory 
O'er doubts and fears, enough for quiet rest ; 
And if some veil'd response we cannot read, 
It is not hid from Him — this is enough indeed." 

And as a fitting close to such a revelation as this, 
we have the magnificent description of the universal 
praise given to the Lamb for His victory. 

The description is ideal, but it sets the standard for 
our praise. Our worship will be pleasing to God just 
in the degree in which it unites with this. 

Let us see of what this grand outburst of praise 
consists. 

The Lamb is on the Throne, clothed with the 
royalty of Heaven and earth, and all ranks and orders 



70 3be TRevelation of "Cbe Cbuigs tbat Bre" 



of created things are present to offer before Him their 
tribute of praise. 

First comes Nature, represented by the Living ones. 
She has groaned, with man, in travail of spirit, waiting 
for the redemption of all creation, and now she too 
may share in the victory. And do we not feel the 
truth of this on Easter Day ? Do we not feel Nature 
bearing triumphant witness to the victory achieved 
through death and pain over death and sin ? 

"Earth with Joy confesses, clothing her for Spring, 
All good gifts return with her returning King; 
Bloom in every meadow, leaves on every bough, 
Speak His sorrows ended, hail this triumph now : 
Hell to-day is vanquish' d ! Heaven is won to-day ! 
Months in due succession, days of lengthening light, 
Hours and passing moments praise Thee in their flight ; 
Brightness of the morning, sky and fields and sea, 
Vanquisher of darkness, bring their praise to Thee : 
' Welcome, happy morning ! ' age to age shall say." 

Is it not for this reason that we bring into God's 
house the beauties of God's earth, the flowers and the 
foliage which not only witness to the victory over the 
winter's death, but witness also to the triumph of the 
Lamb, because they tell us that only through the 
winter's death can come the life of spring ? 

Next comes the Church, represented by the four- 
and-twenty Elders, to add its voice to that of Nature. 
The Church reaches the height of her great mission 
when she proclaims this glorious truth. All over this 
round world, in every language, among all peoples, 
nations, tongues, and kindreds, the four-and-twenty 
hours, clothed in light, move like ministering priests 



tTbe tTrlumpb of tbe ftamb 



71 



to awake from the universal Church her Easter song. 
From east to west, through every zone, the anthem 
rises to the Lamb, — 

" Christ, our Passover, is sacrificed for us \ 
Therefore let us keep the feast." 

We bring forth our harps — the symbol of our praise 
— giving God the best of our talent, our heart's desire 
to tune our voices according to the melodies of 
Heaven. 

We bring our bowls of odorous incense, — the sym- 
bol of our prayers, praying that the Easter message 
may speak with all power to our hearts and save us 
from the death of sin to the life of righteousness. 

Our song is called a new song, because it is the 
paean of new life won for man, because it tells of tid- 
ings so good that for very joy we scarce can credit 
them, that the hungry maw of death is stopped, that 
Death, " the old Serpent's son," which had once " a 
sting like its sire," has now been captive led and made 
a porter at the gate of life. As the Jews of old made 
their new songs when they came back from captivity 
by Babylon's sad waters, so we too know a new song, 
the song of the new creation, the song of redemption 
by the blood of the Lamb, a redemption by which all 
who partake of it are raised to higher glory and fairer 
beauty. 

The " new song " is of three strains. Worthy is 
the Lamb — 

I. For He was slain, 
II. And hath redeemed us, 

III. And hath made us a kingdom, and priests, 
that we may reign upon the earth. 



72 Gbe "Revelation ot " Gbe Gblngs tbat are " 



And it awakes, as all true praise must awake, a re- 
sponsive strain from multitudes of whom we have so 
far not yet heard. Beyond the Throne, and beyond 
the circle of the Living-ones, and beyond the circle of 
the Elders the Apostle sees and hears a wider circle 
extending to the utmost bounds of universal space, a 
multitude in number ten thousand times ten thousand, 
and thousands of thousands. 

For indeed true praise has no bound, no limit, in 
time and space, but makes fresh circles, widening for 
all eternity. Down to the unseen depths of being 
there can be but one response. Wherever the victory 
of Christ is proclaimed in the highest Heaven, or in 
Hell deeper than plummet could sound, God must be 
revealed as the God of reconciliation and of progress, 
of increasing light and of larger liberty. 

Sevenfold is the ascription of the Lamb — that is, 
perfect is His praise. The Lamb is worthy to receive 
. the Power, and the Riches, and the Wisdom, and the 
Might, and the Honor, and the Glory, and the Bless- 
ing. 

Then to the universal Song — so spontaneous that it 
is joined in by everything in Heaven, in the earth, 
under the earth, and in the sea, so universal that there 
is no room for any discordant or dissentient voice, so 
omnipresent that there is no place for any opposing 
power — there is added the great Amen of creation. 
" Amen, Amen ! " is the cry of Nature, and the glorified 
Church has her heart too full for speech — she can only 
fall down in silent worship. 

Handel doubtless had this passage in his mind when 
to his oratorio of the " Messiah" trying to bring it 
to a worthy close, after telling in sonorous music the 



Gbe Grtumpb of tbe Xamb 



73 



story of the Saviour's Passion and victory, he added 
his wonderful " Amen Chorus." But moving as that 
chorus is, how does it fade away like silence before 
this inspired conception of the whole universe, from 
the remotest star to the things around us and beneath 
our feet, one in feeling, one in heart and soul and ex- 
pression, uttering in all the multitudinous voices of 
Nature, like the sound of many waters, which musicians 
say is the only sound in Nature which includes all 
the notes of music, the great Amen to the creative and 
redemptive work of God ! 

Oh ! let us join in that song and bear its strains with 
us all our life ; not like shell-music heard faintly and 
from afar, but like the music of the spheres in which 
we live, and of which our life forms a high and har- 
monious part. 

Blind are we, deaf are we, dead are we, if we do not 
know the triumph for which the swelling song of Heaven 
rises to God. If St. John could know it when earth 
seemed keeping the carnival of hell, if the Churches of 
Asia could know it when the Dragon seemed enthroned 
and the Wild Beast had power to kill and devour and 
destroy, when to be a Christian was to drink to the dregs 
the cup of the world's hatred and despite, how much 
more should we know, when eighteen centuries of 
Christian history are behind us to teach that the Lamb 
is the mightiest power the earth has known, that He 
rules the destinies of nations, and that the Kingdom 
which will not acknowledge Him shall fall and perish ! 

When the Lamb of God beheld the nations from 
the Cross, He knew that before Him lay His inherit- 
ance. He could say, in the beautiful words of Brown- 
ing,— 



" So shaU I lift up iu^y~^ 
Beyond the reach of grie f and guilt, ' 
The whole creation." 



"And we are witnesses of these ft,- 
Knowing what He hath done forTs 
the world around us, knowing th ^ Md " 
earnest of glories vet to ™ 13 onl y the 

A- tocitiS.^^r^^ our 
was slain. He katk ^ZT a , 7 " the Lamb tha * 

bought JtotTZ h- Tl d T Hel 

-de us a kingdotn and ptu L f°£ * 
upon the earth." ' 1 we mav reign 

nis shall He do, and can we still desoair? 
Come, let us quickly fl ing ourse|ves h ^™ ? . 

Cast at His feet the burthen of ourt ' 

Z!Z° m ^ ^ gl ° W ° f 0ur giving 
Glad and regretful, confident and calm I *' 

Thrill to the music of Creation's psalm." 



?24) 779-21 



